Sermon- Writing for Lay People. Rev. Sue Phillips May 20, 2017

Transcription

1 Sermon- Writing for Lay People Rev. Sue Phillips May 20, 2017

2 Prompt The Summer Day, by Mary Oliver I don't know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, which is what I have been doing all day. Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? Be brave! Write two sermon paragraphs at least eight sentences using one of the many themes in this poem. You are going to need to read these paragraphs aloud to someone in the room you don t know. Be brave! 15 minutes.

3 Cannot understand what preaching is for without understanding what worship is for. What do you worship for? (not WHY you go to worship - what do you worship FOR?) for self for Spirit for community for the world What is worship for?

4 love Spirit peace goodness god It gives shape to things of worth, an intentional spiritual drama: ~ centering (prelude and opening words) ~ embracing limitations (reflective music, prayer) ~ declaring possibilities (readings, stories for all ages) ~ rededication (benediction) Sermon firmly rooted in that drama Sermon reading becomes preaching when it fits and flows with what came before and comes after All our efforts to write sermons must be planted in the ground of fertile worship

5 A lot of ways for sermons to be bad.

6 Preaching is not a speech a term paper a history lesson a political statement or personal therapy about you Preaching is compelling oratory stories in service of spirit grounded in UU tradition prophetic opportunity Life passed through the fire of thought The true preacher can be known by this, that he deals out to the people his life, life passed through the fire of thought. ~ Divinity School Address, Emerson

7 Assumptions About Sermons ordination not required rooted in relationship purpose is spiritual development an oral art form

8 Group discussion Exercise Think about a sermon you heard recently that made a difference in your life. What about the sermon made it so?

9 What makes great preaching great? ineffability, mystery So What: not why you care, why they should care crafted to be heard entrees for many life stages, conditions of spirit words in service of that which is beyond words presencing of preacher answers the question So What?

10 choosing a subject one sermon at a time! the pastoral imperative Sermon Topics Subject: something you know about or have experienced or thought deeply about you can provide spiritual insight and depth about Do not say all of what you know or feel about it! Victoria story about writing newcomers in pastoral extremis joyful people cancer diagnosis pastoral imperative

11 sermon types Sermon Topics challenging topic without inaccessibility personal boundaries Type matches content, your gift and personality comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable Boundaries many of us want to preach because we have a story to tell: triumph, pain, epiphany not ready to preach until we can do it in service of others, spirit we cannot be the heroes of our own sermons of course we can bring ourselves to preaching, but sermon shouldn t be about us lay people think they themselves are the only thing they know enough about to preach lack authority to preach for/to others. Not So! Peaching = spiritual leadership not personal storytelling make some claims explain why nudge and prod cooked vs uncooked

12 How could this sermon change the way people live? How can you grapple meaningfully with longing, suffering, hope, mystery, and wisdom? What is the good news you want to share? theological depth

13 Think about the paragraphs you wrote during the prompt. Answer the questions on this slide. (10 minutes) Exercise What relevance does this have for people s dayto-day lives? What is at stake? What would happen if people didn t contend with this issue? What is at risk? Why should people care? Break? Re-work your paragraphs to beef up the So What. What did you learn from this exercise? The best sermons are about something, mean something, and are written with that meaning in mind. Your answers to the So What test can be your guide before, during, and after writing. People coming to church is intense!!! All those people listening to YOU. Your sermon must be worthy of them. And it likely will be if your sermon effectively answers the So What.

14 Writing to be Heard Susan Stamberg Years ago, when I wrote my first book, Alan Cheuse, a novelist, a friend, and the book reviewer for All Things Considered, advised me that for print, my sentences could go longer. I was amazed. Stunned, actually. And while I found it to be extremely useful advice, I didn t much follow Alan s guidance. All those years of radio-writing haiku have become ingrained, I find. It s not a matter of shortened attention span on the part of the radio writer or the listener, for that matter. It s that we must write to and for the ear. The ear can t absorb a sentence that s too long. The ear can t turn back the page to relisten in the car or the shower. The ear lives in the here (and hear) and now. And so our short sentences our karate chops must land quickly and informatively. To test out whether they will, very often we look like crazy people when we work. Our lips keep moving, and we appear to be talking to ourselves. Without cell phones! We re not crazy. We re just making sure we are communicating in our rarified, demanding medium. We also need to keep our sentences short so we have breathing room. If the sentence is too long, we begin to gasp. And so, whether at a typewriter, decades ago, or at the computer today, the moment I finish writing a sentence, I want to read it to you. Aloud. It s the broadcaster s reflex. We write to be heard. And understood, very, very quickly.

15 preaching is aural Goal is not just to say something, but to create an opportunity for hearing. One of last venues in our culture to be heard Difference in writing to be read and writing to be heard is intense Have to unlearn all those things we were taught about writing: complex sentence structure passive voice complex syntax big words fancy punctuation All these confound the ear! People cannot turn the preacher off and rewind!

16 Re-write: 15 minutes Read aloud to partner you don t know. Exercise Re-write your paragraphs based on what you ve learned about writing for being heard. What did you learn from this exercise?

17 Writing to be Heard clear beginning, middle, and end narrative threads linking ideas verbal transitions repetition of sound, word, phrase, metrical pattern recognizing the limits of listening

18 Ways of the Heart Rev. Victoria Safford Don t follow along the written sermon. Listen to the first ten minutes: whitebearunitarian.org/ways-of-theheart sermon/ What tricks does Victoria use to help her people follow and engage her sermon? What tricks did Victoria use? Use the copy you brought to help you remember. Did they work? What specifically?

19 Fred Craddock: Something happens between the preacher s lips and the congregation s years that is beyond prediction or explanation. A sermon has many ears but only one mouth. the role of the congregation What happens? Why?

20 99% of what people hear is between their ears. best sermons evoke experiential insight, they don t deliver it evocation as preacher, have humility that people bring wisdom with them and trust that given half a chance they ll use that wisdom to fill in space you create for that purpose How? multiple points of entry learning styles invitational not exclusive don t make assumptions! people will leave asap! humor, but be careful i don t know but you do rhetoric: slow pace! pauses! help people get back

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22 Benediction Our preaching derives no weight of authority from the priestly office For its authority, it rests upon the reasonableness of its arguments, the eternal fitness of its teaching, the strength of its conviction, and whatever truth it might contain. ~ Rev. Christopher Eliot, 1877

23 Resources Rev. Erika Hewitt The Shared Pulpit: A Sermon Seminar for Lay People UUA Bookstore Rev. Victoria Safford Ways of the Heart, full audio and text Susan Stamberg Writing to Be Heard, full text